Take tastebuds on historic journey at Abbey Medieval Festival
FOODIES in the Middle Ages enjoyed banquets, gnawing on a lamb shank or tucking in to a venison pie, so to truly immerse yourself in the Abbey Medieval Festival you must bring your appetite.
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FOODIES in the Middle Ages enjoyed large banquets, gnawing on a lamb shank or simply tucking in to a venison or chevron pie, so to truly immerse yourself in this year’s Abbey Medieval Festival you have to bring your appetite.
Event manager Edith Cuffe says the authentic experience goes beyond costumes, jousting and music, so you won’t find potato chips, soft drinks, tomatoes or tropical fruit there.
Instead, you can sample medieval cuisine from about 30 food and drink stalls, in addition to two taverns — The Stagg Inn and Friar’s Folly — where you’ll find food not served at other stalls, as well as mead, cider, ales and mulled wine. “We want to give people something that makes them say, ‘wow that was different’,” Edith says.
She’s eaten venison and rabbit pies — just to experience them and imagine what people used to eat during this period in history.
“One of the things I really like is some of the little tarts, mushroom and savoury tarts. I’m also partial to the lamb shanks,” she says.
If you want to go the whole hog, head along to one of two banquets in the lead-up to the festival, on June 29 and July 6.
Guests are seated at long tables on bench seats, which in itself creates an interactive experience, with people having to ask others at the table to allow them to get up.
“It creates that different dynamic of dining that people aren’t used to,” Edith explains.
Each person is given a plate made of bread, called a trencher.
Food is served on platters in the middle of the table and guests place what they’d like to eat on their trencher. They are given a spoon and knife, but no forks.
Edith says these weren’t in vogue during the Middle Ages.
It’s not considered bad manners to eat using your hands, but you can’t eat your trencher when your meal is finished. There’s ceremonial handwashing at the beginning of the evening, where guests have their hands washed in scented rosewater and dried by someone else — a first-time experience for many. Edith says it makes people realise this is a different experience straight away.
“It’s almost a transformative experience, taking them from one world into another,” she says.
Food is served in two removes, or courses, plus an issue — a platter with cheeses and cakes. Each remove consists of savoury and sweet dishes, including lamb shanks, venison and root vegetable pies, roast pork with spiced orange and sage sauce, and fig and walnut cakes with rosewater glaze.
Banquets typically last for several hours with dancing, music, jesters, jugglers and fire twirlers to break up the eating.
ABBEY MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL
Banquets: June 29 and July 6 from 5.45pm in the St Michael’s College grand hall. Two courses, theatrics and entertainment. Standard tickets $95.
Kids Dig It! Medieval Fun Week: July 1-5, from 9.30am. Activities include archery, archaeological dig, arts and crafts, dressing up and dance.
Knighting ceremony: July 12, from 7.30pm at The Abbey Church. Entry is free.
Abbey Medieval Festival: July 13 and 14, gates open 9am. Tickets are $37.80 adults, $27 concession, $18.90 children, $90 family, (prepaid, more at the gate). Free entry for children under 5.
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